MATRILINY AND GENDER NEGOTIATION IN KHASI SOCIETY: RE-READING WOMEN’S POSITION THROUGH SOCIO-CULTURAL STRUCTURES

Abstract

The Khasi society of Meghalaya is widely recognised for its matrilineal structure, where descent, inheritance, and clan identity are traced through the female line. Such a system has frequently led to the assumption that Khasi women enjoy complete social empowerment and gender equality. However, a closer examination of Khasi social institutions reveals a more nuanced reality. This paper examines the socio-cultural framework of Khasi society with particular attention to kinship, inheritance, political institutions, and religious practices in order to analyse the actual position of women within the matrilineal order. The study argues that although women occupy a central role in lineage preservation and property inheritance, authority in political, ritual, and decision-making spaces has historically remained male dominated. The paper therefore attempts to understand the tension between matriliny and gender equality and its implications for literary representation and social understanding.